Wind farms were paid £1.85 million to shut down this week – at a time when consumers face huge rises in energy bills because of the spiralling cost of natural gas. The turbines were switched off, because the electricity they would have produced could not have reached the regions that needed it. Instead, electricity from gas-fired power stations was used.

On-demand power from storage is critical for preventing blackouts in Australia, which is increasingly dependent on wind and solar farms, from which energy is not always available. Hornsdale Power Reserve was called on to dispatch power in July to November 2019 during frequency disturbances, but that the energy was not supplied as needed.

Europe’s gas prices have more than tripled this year as top supplier Russia has been curbing the additional deliveries the continent needs to refill its depleted storage. Higher gas prices boosted the cost of producing electricity. Europe is short of gas and coal and if the wind doesn’t blow, the worst-case scenario could play out: widespread blackouts.

Global debt rose to a new record high of nearly $300 trillion in the second quarter of 2021. China has seen a steeper rise in its debt levels compared with other countries, while emerging-market debt excluding China rose to a fresh record high at $36 trillion. Debt among developed economies, especially the euro area, rose again in the second quarter.

Italy’s power prices are set to increase by 40% in the third quarter as a global natural gas supply crunch starts to impact the country ahead of the cold season. The increase is part of a rally across Europe that’s set to boost bills for consumers all over the continent. Coal reserves in European ports are also at the lowest level for this time of year since 2016.

SDX received the go-ahead from the Financial Market Supervisory Authority to operate a stock exchange and a central securities depository for digital assets in Switzerland. This authorization enables SDX to go live with a regulated, integrated trading, settlement, and custody infrastructure based on distributed ledger technology for digital securities.

Sustainable investment assets grew to $35.3 trillion globally last year. But the bulk of that money, some $25 trillion, is in a strategy called “ESG integration,” also known as “ESG consideration.” This means that managers are including ESG data in their financial models, but they’re not necessarily compelled to act on that information.

Poland draws 70% cent of its electricity from coal. Rising prices for EU carbon permits are putting pressure on its energy companies. The government plana to build the country’s first nuclear plant by 2033. Five more are due to follow by 2043. Location for the first reactor will be chosen this year and the project’s financing model and technology next year.

April, May and June had been the third-worst quarter for wind in the past 22 years in the North Sea, where Orsted has most of its wind farms. The lower wind speeds cost Orsted DKr1.4bn ($220m) in lost earnings. Low wind speeds have affected several European companies active in renewable energy including SSE in the UK and RWE in Germany.

Despite record additions of renewable generation capacity, fossil fuel-based generation and associated emissions are rising along with electricity demand. Prices were 54% higher in the first half of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020. The hourly changes in demand that have to be matched by flexible generation and consumption are increasing.

European gas rates reached a record this week. The world is expected to depend more on cleaner-burning gas as a replacement to coal. Looking further out, the appetite for liquefied natural gas is expected to grow by 3.4% a year through 2035. But as producers curb investments into new supply, it is becoming apparent that expensive energy is here to stay.

The value of the world’s stock of negative-yielding debt has ballooned to more than $16.5tn. Germany’s 10-year yield fell to minus 0.51%, the lowest level since early February. The country’s 30-year yield has also fallen beneath zero. All of Germany’s debt, which serves as a reference for bonds across the eurozone, now trades at negative yields.